Marland, E. W., Mansion

About this property

The E.W. Marland Mansion is a 43,561 square feet (4,046.9 m2) Mediterranean Revival-style mansion located in Ponca City, Oklahoma, United States. Built by oil baron and philanthropist Ernest Whitworth (E.W.) Marland, as a display of wealth at the peak of the 1920s oil boom, the house is one of the largest residences in the southwestern United States, and is known as the "Palace on the Prairie." It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973, and is now a museum open to the public. The Marland Mansion was built on the side of a small hill, higher on the west side than on the east, in an abandoned stone quarry that determined the placement for the mansion, as the excavations for the quarry was used for the construction of the swimming pool. Designed by prominent Tulsa architect John Duncan Forsyth, the mansion was constructed between 1925 and 1928, and influenced by the Palazzo Davanzati in Florence, Italy that Marland had visited while traveling in Europe. Crafted from light-colored, rusticated limestone blocks, quarried on-site, and set in concrete on a steel frame, the roughly u-shaped layout is 78 feet wide and 184 feet long. The main entrance is found on the west front and features an arched and buttressed porte-cochère with gabled, clay tiled roof, that shelters the arched, 11-panel, double wood entrance doors custom-made in New York. Under each of the four inside corners of the porte-cochère are sculptures of Marland's four hunting dogs, carved by Italian sculptor, Ernest G. Pellegrini. The windows with black painted metal surrounds, to contrast with the light colored stone, are asymmetrically arranged. The first level windows feature wrought iron grill work, while those on the second level are smaller, or have wrought iron balconies. Large raised terraces are found on the north, south and east fronts, however they do not interconnect. The south front's notable features include triple arched windows giving an arcaded effect and accented with stone balconies with flower carved corbels that flank the facade on the upper level. The drainage system is also exposed and displays the Marland monogram and the date "1927." The water from the system drains through a sculptured carving of Pan into a water feature located in a niche in the side of the terrace wall. Giving access to the terrace is a semicircular arched glass and wrought iron double doorway. The fanlight features a sunburst pattern with the tracery continuing down into the sidelights and doors with vertical bars. The arched doorway is replicated on the north facade in a set of three, continuing the arcaded effect. This arcade is highlighted by a stone cantilevered staircase to the left, with ornately carved corbels of mythological creatures leading to a second floor balcony adjacent to E.W. Marland's quarters. The east front is the only one that features a symmetrical facade, and where all three stories are evident due to the house being built on a hill. The first level has a set of three arched doorways that enclose a lounge directly below a terrace found on the second level, centered by a single arched entryway. On the third level are flanking rectangular windows with wrought iron balconies, mirroring those on the west front, centered by three small square shaped fenestrations.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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